Drag-bar for furrow-openers.



F. R. PACKHAM L G. P. GATES. DRAG BAR FOR FURROWQPENERS. APPLIOATIONFILED DBO. 3o, 1909.

976,490. Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

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F. R: PACKHAM & G. P.. GATES. DRAG BAR PoR PURROW oPBNERs.

APPLICATION FILED DBO. 30, 1909. 976,490. Patented NOV.22,191`0.

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976,490. Patented Nov. 22. 1910.

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OFICE.

FRANK R. PACKHAIVI AND GEORGE P. OA'IES, OE SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, ASSIGNORSTO THE AMERICAN SEEDING MACHINE COMPANY, OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, A COR-PORA'IION OE OHIO.

DRAG-BAR FOR FURROW-OPENERS.

Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

Application filed. December 30, 1909. Serial No. 535,692.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, F RANK R. PACKHAM and GEORGE P. OArns, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Clark andState of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inDrag-Bars for F urrow-Openers, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to improvements in furrow openers for graindrills and particularly to the drag-bar construction of the furrowopener devices commonly used, including the disk, shoe or hoe form offurrow opener, though the invention as illustrated in the drawings is anattachment to a single f disk furrow opener.

The prime object of the invention is to overcome the difficulties thathave heretofore existed in the use of furrow openers for grain drillsincident to obstacles in the practical operation thereof. It is apparentto any one versed in the art that the furrow openers themselves aresubject to pressure on both sides, and, while with the disk furrowopener it is the usual practice to operate same at an angle to the lineof draft so that the concave side of the disk is subject to what mightbe called the normal resistance of opening the land-side of the furrow,still the convex or opposing side of the disk will necessarily meetobstacles or encounter difficulties that may tend to force the furrowopener laterally, and considerable difficulty has been encountered byundue straining of the parts or breakage thereof by reason of the factthat the furrow opener was not adapted to overcome such difficulties. Ofcourse, this difficulty is not peculiar to disk furrow openers alone butis applicable to a greater or less degree to all other forms of furrowopeners. In a general way, the improvements illustrated and describedherein consist in making the furrow opener of convertible character sothat it can be operated as of the old type of construction wherein thedrag-bar does not permit of lateral displacement of the furrow openerindependent of the frame of the machine, 0r it may be converted into onewhere the furrow opener will have a permissible lateral displacement toovercome difficulties in operating same under conditions where obstaclesmust be met that tend to either strain or break the parts in the mannerheretofore described.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view showing the crosshead and a portion of thedrag-bar. Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of the same. Fig. 6 is a top planview showing a series of drag-bars, and furrow openers with our improvedform of connection to the draft rod for same, one of the furrow openersbeing shown under the iniuence of an obstacle throwing the furrow openerto the limit of its lateral movement. Fig. 7 is a transverse section onthe line g/-y of Fig. 4. Fig. 8 is a side view of the furrow opener anda portion of the frame of the machine, looking at the concave side ofthe disk, showing an obstacle encountered by the convex side thereof.Fig. 9 is a transverse section on the line aof Fig. 5. Fig. 10 is a rearview of a series of disks showing one of the disks displaced laterallyby an obstacle. Figs. 11 to 21 inclusive are modifications hereinafterreferred to.

Like reference letters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to Figs. G and 8 it will be noted that the furrow openercommonly used in grain drills is illustrated as mounted at one end ofthe drag-bar which is pivoted to a draft rod or analogous device on theframe of the machine. These machines are sometimes supported by carryingwheels or the carrying-wheels may be dispensed with, but this inventionrelates entirely to the attachment of the furrow opener to the machine.It is common practice to pivotally mount the furrow opener and to thisend the dragbar is usually of yoke form at the end, and hinged orpivoted to a rod at the forward part of the frame permitting the furrowopener to have a limited vertical movement independent of the frame ofthe machine, and this up-and-down movement is usually controlled byspring pressure. By that is meant that the spring or analogous device,usually employed to hold the furrow opener in the ground, permits it torise upwardly to a limited extent against the tension of the spring. Animproved form of cross-head 1s shown, indicatedby the reference lettera, and this cross-head is pivotally mounted at two diiferent adjustmentsas illustrated and lconnected to the furrow opener.

described herein. The cross-head is preferably formed with a pocket a4or some form of hollow opening, into which the upper end of the drag-barwill be inserted, the

lower end or free end of the drag-bar being This pocket is formedtapering with its widest portion at the rear of the cross-head; thistaper terminating at a point on the line :v in Fig. 4, and from there onthe pocket is ared so as to permit of the movement of the drag-bar. Inthe formation of the free lend of the cross-head it is important to so'form it that the upper end of the drag-bar can not only be pivotallysupported therein but also may have combined therewith stops or theequivalent thereof to limit the amount of lateralmovement of thedragbar. In the construction illustrated and de-V scribed in thedrawings the upper end of the drag-bar, a3, fits within the pocket orsocket a4 and the bolt b extends through the top and ybottom of thesocket and through theend of the drag-bar therebyV forming a pivot forthe drag-bar. The cross-head is also formed so that the side walls a5and a of the socket a4 form stops to regulate the amount of lateraldisplacement of the disk and drag-bar.

As shown in Figs. 6 and 7 the normal re sistance due to the concave sideof the disk operating as the working face of the disk will cause thedrag-bar to assume the position shown at the right of Fig. 6, to wit,the drag-bar, a3, will be forced against the wall or stop a5.

It will be seen from Fig. 6 that there are employed a plurality offurrow openers and those illustrated are a single concavoeconvex vdiskset at an angle with the line of draft,

and the normal angular position of the disk Vis shown at the left handside of said Fig. 6,

wherein the drag bar a3 of said left hand disk is normally against thestop a5 and in this position the disk runs at the fixed minimum angle tothe line of draft; the devices being so arranged that the angle may beincreased from the normal but never lessened Vtherefrom and itis quiteimportant that this 'relation should be maintained. Now, when a clod orother obstacle passes within the -sp'ace between any two disks, it willbe apparent that one disk will coperatewith the other to cause a lateralswinging movement of one of said two disks to permit said obstacle topass through said space while maintaining one of the two disks at itsnormal angular position and increasing the angle of the other. In Fig. Gthere is an instance illustrated wherein an obstacleV is shown withinthe space between two disks at the extreme4 left hand side of that view.The first disk is held in its normal position and the opposing disk isswung laterally, thereby increasing its angle to the line of draft. Andthis increased angle is desirable in order to furnish suiiicient suctionto maintain the proper depth of the disk; in other words, the disk wouldnaturally tend to float to the surface by reason of the obstacle that iswithin the space between the two disks, but by causing the angle of thedisk to the line of draft to increase, its tendency to float will beovercome and the disk will maintain its proper working position. But anyobstacle that is met by the opposite side or convex side of the diskwill tend to move the disk bodily to the right until the upper end ofthe drag-bar meets the wall or stop au. This will insure a lateraldisplacement of the disk such that it can automatically adjust itself toovercome diiiiculties due to the obstacles encountered by thenon-working side of the disk or the land side of any ordinary furrowopener. It is apparent that if the drag-bar and cross-head were of onesolid structure so arranged as to not permit any movement of thedrag-bar independent of the cross-head, having the cross-head mounted inthe usual way of the draft rod, an obstacle passing between two furrowopeners and of such character as to force one of the furrow openerslaterally to permit the obstacle to pass between them would tend tostrain or break the parts and often raise the furrow opener entirely outof the ground thereby preventing the proper seeding of the ground at auniform depth in the ground, in fact deposit the seed on top of theobstruction and not in the-soil around the obstruction.

One principal advantage is so arranging the cross-head and drag-bar thatthey may be converted from a form of furrow opener permitting a limitedlateral movement of the drag-bar independent of the cross-head to onewhere there is no such lateral movement by the insertion of a bolt. Asdisclosed in Figs. 4t and 5, there is preferably shown two set-s ofregistered openings c and c extending through the top and bottom wallsof the socket formed in the cross-head and an opening c2 formed in thedrag-bar adapted to register with either one of the first-mentionedopenings. A bolt can be readily inserted through either pair ofopenings, so that the drag-bar can be rigidly connected to thecross-head in any desired position and thereafter the device can beoperated to all intents and purposes as a solid drag-bar construction.

In Figs. 11 and 12 and 18 is illustrated a modification, in which t-hecross-head is formed in the nature of a plate CZ, to which the drag-bara3 is permanently secured by riveting or otherwise. The plate l hasupturned perforated ears, d and Z2 pivoted on the draft-bar a2. Theperforation in the ear d2 is in the nature of a slotted opening d3 so asto permit the cross-head, together with the drag-bar and furrow openerattached thereto, to swing laterally, there being suflicient clearancebetween the. perforation in the ear CZ and the draft-rod to permit thislateral movement.

In Figs. 14, 15 and 16 is shown a further modification. The cross-heada, in these views is of the same type as the one shown in Fig. 11,having the upwardly extending perforated ears, e and e2 adapted to bepivoted to the draft-rod a2. Instead of elongating one of theseperforations, however, for the purpose of permitting lateral movement, aslotted perforation e3 is provided in the plate a to permit the drag-bart3 to swing laterally with respect to the plate; the drag-bar beingpivoted to said plate as at et and a bolt or other device e5 is passedthrough the said drag-bar and elongated perforation c3 so as to limitthe lateral swing of the drag-bar.

In Figs. 17, 18 and 19, the cross-head is dispensed with and thebifurcated type of drag-bar is employed. The drag-bar f, in this case isprovided with a brace f in a manner well known, the ends of the drag-barand brace being perforated and pivoted to the draft-rod a3. Theperforation in the end of the drag-bar f is elongated as indi cated atf2 which will permit the drag-bar and the attached furrow opener toswing laterally.

In Figs. 20 and 21, a slightly different form of cross-head is employed.The crosshead g has the projecting ears g adapted to be pivoted on thedraft-rod a2 and also has along its sides converging ribs g2 which actas stops for the drag-bar c3 which is pivoted to said cross-head at g3.A loop, g4 serves to retain the cross-head and drag-bar to gether. Inthis instance, we have shown a flat spring g5, one end of which issecured to the cross-head as at ,916.; this spring extend ing along theside of the drag-bar and tending normally to force the same to workingposition. The objectof this spring is to overcome any sluggish movementof the drag-bar and furrow opener in returning to their proper workingposition after having been deflected laterally by an obstacle.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. In a grain drill, the combination of a draft rod, cross headspivotally mounted on the draft rod, a plurality of disk furrow openerscomprising drag bars and disks rotatably mounted near the ends of thedrag bars and placed at an angle to the line of draft, means forpivotally mounting the drag bars on the cross heads and stops forlimiting the lateral swinging movement of each furrow opener whereby anyobstacle bearing against two opposing furrow openers will. cause one ofthe furrow openers to swing laterally increasing the angle of the diskto the line of draft, substantially as specified.

2. In a grain drill, the combination of a plurality of disk furrowopeners with dra-ftrods and cross-heads and pivotal connections betweenthe cross-heads and drag-bars, devices for holding each disk in itsnormal position at a fixed minimum angle with the line of draft, wherebyan obstacle will hold one disk in its normal position, causing itsopposing disk to swing laterally, increasing the angle of saidlast-mentioned disk, substantially as specified.

3. In a grain drill, the combination of a plurality of concave-convexdisk furrow openers with draft-rods and cross-heads and pivotalconnections between the cross-heads and drag-rods, devices for holdingeach con cavo-convex disk in its normal position at a fixed minimumangle with the line of draft, whereby any obstacle will hold oneconcavo-convex disk in its normal position causing its opposingconcavo-convex disk to swing laterally increasing the angle of saidlast-mentioned concavo-convex disk, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands this 23rd day ofDecember, 1909.

FRANK R. PACKI-IAM. GEORGE P. GATES.

Vitnesses z CI-IAs. I. WELCH, THAYER K. Monnow.

